Join the movement

Jordyn Woods is doing fame her own way

As Jordyn Woods creeps toward the end of her teenage years, she’s feeling slightly nervous, but she knows that her future’s looking bright.

Last year she got signed to Wilhelmina Curve after an agent DMed her on Instagram. At the time, she had no idea what to expect. While over the past year, she’s had to deal with people who don’t know how to style curvy women, she says the modeling industry is becoming more inclusive — not that it’s perfect just yet.

We talked to this QT about why people still look down on women for being good at social media, the awkward situations curvy models can find themselves in at shoots, and all the ways dudes disappoint us.

So I saw on Life of Kylie that Kylie set you up on a blind date. Is that something she does a lot?

No, she’s actually never set me up on a date before. She kept telling me I should go on a date so we decided it would be really funny for the show. So we tried out the blind dating thing, which I’ve never done before.

Blind dates are such an awkward concept, but also a really outdated one. No one really does them anymore.

I feel like there is no real blind dating anymore because of Instagram, I feel like they know your whole life.

Since most guys who go out with you already know who you are, do you check out their socials or Google them before a date?

Of course, who wouldn’t do that? I try to not look at every single thing, because then it leaves no mystery, but once you get started you kind of get sucked in.

Kylie said on the show that you get over guys really quickly, so what are some things that guys do that turn you off to them?

Hmmm, almost everything.

Haha!

I don’t know, I just know what I like and I know that I don’t have to waste my time, because time is so valuable. So if I know I’m going to waste my time with anyone I just wanna know it’ll be innocent, and it’s fun, and it’s no pressure. I feel like with guys nowadays, intentions are a big thing. Whether you are “someone” or not, you can’t make things more difficult. Everyone has their intentions, whether they want to sleep with you or they just want to get into somewhere or whatever.

You know, being the girl and finding out the guys’s intentions is very important, and I think a lot of people aren’t too clear with it from the beginning. So I just try to focus and figure out what the intentions are before I really get involved and allow people to be let into my life and my inner circle because that’s something that’s very precious to me and not just anyone can be a part of it.

Yeah, between the show and your own social media platforms how do you draw the line on what parts of your personal life you are and are not willing to share?

Well, it’s important for your followers and fans to realize that you are a normal person and to relate to them. But I try to keep my social media as positive as possible, and as real. Obviously if you’re having a bad day you’re not going to post, “ugh, I’m having a bad day.” My goal with my social media, I just try to stay positive and try not to be too fake on Instagram. I think I just post very casually.

That’s the key to Instagram. Even if you spend a long time getting the right pose, getting the right caption, it’s gotta come off as something that you did super casually.

Yeah, like you can’t try too hard on social media. It’s really about being genuine and being yourself and I feel like people appreciate that a lot more than you trying to over compensate for something you either want to be or can’t be, but that’s also the beauty with social media. You can present anything you want to.

I wanted to say there’s no right or wrong way to Instagram, but I think a wrong way is by using your platform to troll people. But other than that, I mean it’s really your own official diary, that’s how I look at Instagram.

And why do you think women still get looked down on for being so successful at social media?

I feel like people are just threatened by powerful females. I think the more confident you are on Instagram, the more threatened by you [other people are]. Girls nowadays aren’t afraid to bare it all for the ‘gram… I feel like anything goes.

So switching gears, what’s surprised you the most about the modeling industry?

The funny thing is I never really knew what to expect with the modeling industry, because I kind of just jumped into it full force and I didn’t prepare myself. I’ve dealt with people that I really enjoyed working with and people that I really didn’t enjoy working with, but I think the most important thing is knowing yourself. Because so long as you know yourself, and what you stand for, and what you’ll do, and what your limits are, then nothing can really surprise you that much.

Also a lot of people don’t know how to style curvy women correctly, so that’s been one of the biggest struggles, pulling up to a shoot and either the clothing doesn’t fit at all or it’s too small or I have to bring my own clothing, which is kind of interesting to me.

Would you say that happens often?

It’s gotten a lot better, but when I first started, for sure.

That’s so awkward. Is that a conversation you would have right after you were booked or like not until you show up?

It would be a prior to, so it’d be like, “Okay, so we’re shooting this this week you need to have X, Y and Z and also bring some of your own jeans and some clothing,” because they’re going to try and piece stuff together with what they have. And I feel like it’s because there are so many different kinds of body types, people often struggle a lot trying to find the right things to wear.

And how do you deal with that when that happens?

I mean you kind of just deal with it, you know? You’re like, “Okay, well this is happening and I know for the future.” And you kind of just grow from every experience.

As a relatively new model who got signed from Instagram, how do you deal with haters who say stuff like, “Oh, you’re not a real model”?

Yeah, well I’ve definitely gotten that. I mean everyone has their own opinion which is cool, but what defines a real model? Because to me I’m doing the same work, I’m still traveling, I’m still not sleeping, I’m still walking in shoots [to find clothes] that are half a size too small and fitting in tight clothes and changing, I’m doing what every typical normal model does, so what defines a model?

What kind of DMs would you say you get the most of?

Well, the most I would say are from guys asking to go on a date. Yeah, I would say it’s mostly guys saying stuff like, “You look like a snack.” You know, stuff like that. And girls saying that I have inspired them to love their body.

How do you choose which fan messages to respond to?

I don’t really choose, I think it just depends on my mood. Sometimes I’ll be like, “this was really sweet” or “I could have fun responding to this” or “I get this question a lot, so I’m randomly picking your name to answer it with.”

Okay, so there’s not like a way people can game the system and get you to respond?

It kind of sounds messed up if I say that, haha! I do see all the messages though and I do appreciate a lot of them, especially after the show [“Life of Kylie”] came out. I didn’t know what people were going to think or what people were going to say and I got a lot of good messages on Twitter so it made me feel a lot better about the release of the show.

Why were you so nervous?

Because I didn’t know if my life would change in any way. I didn’t know if things would be different. You become more vulnerable to the world because you allow more people in on your life and your situation. And you’re more vulnerable to people’s opinions. And starting the show, I’m bringing more attention to myself and I didn’t know if I’d be able to do as much as I care to do right now as freely without people noticing me. Personally, I never want to be, cuz I don’t think I am, but I wanted to be famous in any way. I will take success, but fame? I don’t know.

Well I mean, you are famous though. People know who you are. They’d see your face and be like, “that’s Jordyn Woods” you know?

I guess. It’s not real fame, I wouldn’t say. Like, it’s time I feel like people recognize me for the things I’m doing rather than just being someone’s friend, even though I completely understand because they see me on Snapchat all the time or Instagram, and you’re like, “Oh, hey, that’s blah blah blah,” but I don’t think that’s the type of fame that should be acquired.

So people definitely overuse the word “goals” in everyday life, what do you think actually is goals?

Honestly, people that genuinely look happy and healthy, and comfortable in their position. Other goals to me are fresh haircuts. I love that. Other things I really like are vintage, I really like vintage. Honestly, anyone that looks comfortable in their situation is goals to me because that’s what it’s all about. So many people don’t know what goals are, they don’t know what’s going on behind closed doors.

If we went through your phone’s photo library, what would a majority of the photos be?

Oh God, it’s a lot of selfies, a lot of photos of random things. The problem I have is I’ll take 50 photos of myself but then I’ll never delete them. So it’s a lot of the same thing except my head might be tilted more, it’s genuinely like the same photo over and over again.

And what would you say is your biggest Hollywood pet peeve?

I hate when people work out in makeup, working out in makeup is a huge pet peeve.

How do you feel about coming to the end of being a teenager?

I’ve been trying to figure out my life since I was 15, so I think a lot like an adult, but now that I’m becoming an actual real life adult, I’m a little bit nervous. I mean I know that I got this, but once you get older you just have less of a tolerance for bullshit. I’m excited because I just know that the future is going to be great, I’ve been accomplishing a lot and I have an idea of the direction I’m going in, so I’m excited, but it does make me nervous because there’s a lot more responsibilities and it just keeps growing.

Yeah, it really does. So my last question, what’s the best thing that somebody could compliment you on?

Well, I like when someone compliments me on my eyebrows, I like when someone compliments me on my smile, and I really like when someone compliments me on my music taste.

That’s like the ultimate compliment.

Yeah. I mean, you like my music, you like my humor, and you like my eyebrows… I mean…

Share this post

Share This Post

Meet Tony Camaro, an LA artist with more than one creative eye. Tony has dived into all aspects of Fine Art and Fashion – starting in the world of visual arts. Putting pen to paper to create his minds’ work, Tony is gracefully curating his world to deliver a raw passion for creativity within fabrics

Share this post

Share This Post

Using a soulful approach, Raveena Aurora is an up-and-coming musician who is redefining what it is to be inspired by culture and being an expressive artist. Raveena is any woman’s breath of fresh air. Cultivating a safe and warming environment for any woman alike to experience life instances along with the pain. The Indian/American R&B

Share this post

Share This Post

Every once in a while, a new app comes around that goes viral and is officially downloaded on everyone’s phones (somehow even your grandma’s). There was Angry Birds, that racing game where the guy ran barefoot through ancient ruins, HQ, and we know there’s been plenty of dragon games. This month, the app going viral is

Share this post

Share This Post

All good things must come to an end: like the “X-Men” Movies, and Summer, and Vine. But when it comes to language — you know, words, diction, syntax, all that jazz — we (the humans) seem to think that we can keep any word fun, relevant, and topical so long as it’s ironic. Like, once